Election 2014

Kathleen Rice wins big in the 4th Congressional District

Michael Venditto takes the 8th Senate District

Posted

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice will be headed to Washington, D.C. in January to take her seat among the 435 members of the House of Representatives after defeating Republican Bruce Blakeman on Election Day in the battle for the 4th Congressional District.

Rice will be in the minority in the House. Throughout her campaign, Rice said she planned to take up the gun-control platform for which her predecessor, Democrat Carolyn McCarthy, has long advocated.

“We proved that positivity and ideas beat fear-mongering and dirty campaigning,” Rice said.

In the race for the 8th Senate Disrict, Nassau County Legislator Michael Venditto, a Republican from Massapequa, handily defeated County Legislator David Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick.

In September, Denenberg dropped out of the race after his former law firm, Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, accused him of defrauding a client of $2.3 million. Venditto, who will succeed former Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr., a Republican from Merrick, ran a hard-hitting campaign that continually attacked Denenberg’s ethics.

Returning to the New York State Assembly will be incumbents David McDonough, a Republican from North Merrick, and Earlene Hooper, a Democrat from Hempstead, who is the Assembly’s deputy speaker.

In state-wide races, Democratic incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo was predicted to defeat challenger Rob Astorino, the Republican county executive of Westchester. At press time, Cuomo led with 51 percent of the vote and nearly 12,000 of 15,000 election precincts reporting.

Democratic incumbent Comptroller Tom DiNapoli led Robert Antonacci II, a Republican from Syracuse, and incumbent Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat from Manhattan, beat John Cahill, a Republican of Yonkers.

Click here for complete Election night results.